Wagering game machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines depends on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing wagering game machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for wagering game machine manufacturers to continuously develop new features and/or functionality that will attract frequent play.
At least some manufacturers may provide at least some features to a player using mobile user devices (also sometimes referred to herein as “mobile devices”) carried or worn by the player, such as smartphones and wearable electronics. For example, the player may provide credentials to a web or application interface to access player tracking features, bonus games, and the like. To match a player to a particular wagering game machine, the player may be required to manually pair the mobile user device with the wagering game machine. That is, the player provides user input via the mobile user device that identifies the wager game machine such that, during a gaming session, data associated with the player is transmitted to the game machine and/or data associated with the game machine is transmitted to the mobile user device. However, the pairing process may be cumbersome, time-consuming, and/or confusing to a player (e.g., the player or mobile user device is unable to properly identify the correct wagering game machine to pair with), which may lead to the player abandoning play of the game. Moreover, some communication methods used to establish communication between two computing devices may require particular components or modules to be installed at the wagering game machines that may be costly to add to new or existing game machines.